Popular Ghanaian Gospel artiste and VGMA ‘Artiste of the Year’, Joe Mettle has been accused of stealing a song owned by a Ghanaian singer based in the United States, Fletcher Narh.
Fletcher Narh who granted an exclusive interview with Ola Michael on Neat FM on Tuesday, May 17 claimed that Joe Mettle lifted portions of his song and used it on his own song without his consent and that authorization of his management.
According to Fletcher Narh, his breakthrough song, ‘Mayi W’aye’ which was released 15 years ago was taken by Joe Mettle in 2015 also titled “Meyi W’aye” without going through the due copyright process.
“I sang Meyi W’aye about 15 years ago,” “I’m the only one that understands the history behind the song and how God gave the song. But you know how Ghanaians behave, people do not do the right thing.”
He furthered that Joe Mettle reached out to him to sample the song but both didn’t agree on a term before it was released.
“He called me years ago and told me he had done all the research and he loves the song and that he wanted to do [sample] it. I said ‘that’s okay. I have a lot of songs but we have to do it the right way’. He even wanted to know how much I was going to charge for it. I need to pray about it and all that but by the time I realised, he had released it,” he narrated.
He said he couldn’t take on Joe Mettle because the Ghanaian system doesn’t empower copyright owners to take on offenders.
Though excited to see the ‘Bo Nor Ni’ hitmaker sample his song, Fletcher bemoaned the fact that he should have given him some credit.
“I believe that the truth is the truth and nothing can outlive the truth. I was in America when people sent me videos and it was exciting but I feel that I deserved some credit,” he added.
